Access to Renewable Energy  

One of the Sunrise Powerlink’s principle goals is to bring renewable energy from remote areas where it can be generated most effectively to coastal cities and towns for use by customers.  The 120-mile Sunrise Powerlink will transport vast amounts of renewable energy from the resource-rich Imperial Valley region to residences and businesses in San Diego.  This 500-kilovolt electric “superhighway” will have the capacity to carry up to 1,000 megawatts of clean power, or enough energy for 650,000 homes. 

Eastern San Diego County, northern Mexico and the Imperial Valley have the potential to produce thousands of megawatts of clean solar, geothermal and wind energy.  The Sunrise Powerlink will provide a transmission corridor for these much-needed resources to reach customers in San Diego. 

In addition to facilitating renewable energy development, the Sunrise Powerlink will bolster the local economy and put people to work.  The Sunrise Powerlink will create 400-500 construction jobs in the local community, facilitate thousands of “green” jobs from proposed renewable projects in the Imperial Valley region and inject $1.7 billion directly into the U.S. economy.

SDG&E has contracts with several renewable energy projects in the Imperial Valley.  Several of these are listed below, along with details about the overall solar, wind and geothermal energy potential of the Imperial Valley region.  When completed in 2012, the Sunrise Powerlink will access these resources and help create cleaner, more environmentally-responsible future for California.

Solar

Abundant sunshine means green energy. And Southern California’s deserts have lots of sun and massive solar energy potential. The Sunrise Powerlink will connect to several large solar farms planned for the Imperial Valley and help turn the sun’s rays into clean, green power.

Tessera Solar (Stirling Energy Systems)

Tessera Solar’s proposed solar generating facility in the Imperial Valley will be one of the world’s largest solar power projects.  SDG&E already has contracted for 300 megawatts from the facility.  This solar thermal plant could have the potential to produce 709 megawatts of electricity at full build out.  A significant quantity of this solar power will utilize the Sunrise Powerlink.   Tessera Solar’s high-efficiency SunCatcher solar dish continues to be one of the most effective technologies to convert the sun’s heat into electricity. At the heart of the design is the Stirling engine that generates electricity from solar energy reflected by the dish’s mirrored surface. For more information about the technology, visit www.tesserasolar.com.

LS Power

SDG&E signed two 20-year power-purchase agreements with an LS Power subsidiary to procure up to 175 megawatts of solar energy from the proposed Centinela Solar Energy facility in the Imperial Valley. Upon completion in 2014, the new Centinela Solar Energy facility will send up to 175 megawatts of solar power to SDG&E’s service territory across the Sunrise Powerlink. The Centinela Solar Energy facility will employ photovoltaic technology on a 1,350-acre site near Calexico, Calif., an area that is ideal for producing solar power due to abundant desert sunlight.

MMR Power Solutions

SDG&E has a 20-year contract with MMR Power Solutions, LLC, to purchase up to 50 megawatts of solar energy generated from solar trough technology – augmented by biomass – also to be located in the Imperial Valley. Solar parabolic trough technology is a tried-and-true approach to generating electricity from the sun, having been in successful operation since the mid-1980s.

Geothermal

How is geothermal energy produced?

Geothermal energy is produced by tapping into naturally occurring "hydrothermal convection" sites where cool water seeps into the Earth’s crust and is heated up by magma deep underground.  When the superheated water is forced to the surface, the steam is captured and used to drive electric generators.

Geothermal energy has a long history in the Imperial Valley and could begin to play an even bigger role in California once the Sunrise Powerlink is completed. Studies have estimated that there is approximately 2,000 megawatts of geothermal potential in the Imperial Valley near the Salton Sea. SDG&E has signed contracts for a total of 60 megawatts of electricity from Esmeralda-San Felipe and Esmeralda-Truckhaven geothermal facilities, which would be imported from the Imperial Valley via the Sunrise Powerlink.

Wind

The mountain ridges of Eastern San Diego County and Northern Baja California are an excellent source of wind power. The Campo Indian Reservation developed the nation’s first wind farm on tribal lands in 2006. These wind turbines generate 50 megawatts or enough electricity to power nearly 33,000 homes in SDG&E’s service territory.

In June 2009, the Campo Band of Mission Indians of the Kumeyaay Nation, Invenergy and SDG&E jointly announced a plan to begin development work on tribal lands for a wind energy project capable of generating up to 160 megawatts of clean energy, or enough to power 104,000 homes. The additional capacity of the Sunrise Powerlink will help free up the existing Southwest Powerlink to carry this clean energy to San Diego. SDG&E is also in the early stages of agreements with the Manzanita tribe to develop wind generation on their lands. Several other Eastern San Diego County and northern Mexico wind projects are in the development stages.

 

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